Apparatus for producing oil from oil shale in situ



C. BELSER Dec. 6, 1955 APPARATUS FOR PRODUCING OIL. FROM OIL SHALE INSITU Filed June 19, 1953 calva .SFP

SUPER H54 TEK ATTORNEYS United States Patent Ofi 2,725,939 Patented Dec.6, 1955 Tice APPARATUS FOR PRODUCING OIL FROM OIL SHALE 1N SITU CarlBelser, Boulder, Colo. Application June 19, 1953, Serial No. 362,797 1Claim. (Cl. 166-57) This invention relates to a method and apparatus forproducing oil from oil shale or oil bearing rock without removing theoil bearing shale or rock from its location in the ground.

It is among the objects of the invention to provide an improved methodand apparatus for producing oil from oil bearing shale or rock whichprovides for heating the carbonaceous material in the shale or rock to atemperature at which the material separates into its liquid and gaseouscomponents and owing these components through separate conduits from theproduction level in a well; which utilizes at least a portion of theproduction gas from the well to produce the necessary heat; which mayuse either superheated steam or combustion gas as the formation heatingmedium; which removes the liquid and most of the gas from the wellthrough separate conduits; and which is simple in arrangement,economical to operate, and effective and efficient in operation.

Other objects and advantages will become apparent from a considerationof the following description and the appended claim in conjunction withthe accompanying drawing wherein the single figure is a diagrammaticillustration of an oil well and apparatus for carrying out the method ofthe invention for producing oil and gas from a formation carrying acarbonaceous material which is non-owable at normal temperatures.

In the arrangement illustrated, the numeral designates a bed or strataof oil bearing formation, such as shale or limestone, carrying acarbonaceous material, known as kerogen, which is non-flowable at normaltemperatures, but which, when heated to a predetermined temperature,breaks down into freely owable liquid and gaseous components, and thenumeral 11 designates the overburden overlying the oil carryingformation 10. A well 12 extends through the overburden 11 and into orthrough the formation 10 and has a well casing 13, the portion of whichextending into or through the formation 10 is provided with a largenumber of apertures 14. Suitable plugs 15 and 16, formed of concrete orother suitable material, are disposed in the well at the top and bottomsurfaces respectively of the formation 10 and separate conduits 17, 18and 19 extend downwardly of the Well through the top plug 15. Theconduit 19 terminates at its lower end adjacent the top surface of thebottom plug 16, the conduit 17 terminates at its lower end adjacent thebottom plug 16, but somewhat above the bottom end of the conduit 19, andthe conduit 18 termi nates at its lower end above the lower ends of theconduits 1'7 and 19 and near the bottom surface of the top plug 15.

A plant for heating fluid to a temperature above that at which thecarbonaceous material in the formation 10 breaks down into its liquidand gaseous components is shown as including a boiler 20, for producingsteam, a steam superheater 21 connected to the boiler 20 and to theconduit 17 and a water preheater Z2 connected to the water inlet of theboiler 20. While this plant will produce steam and superheat the steamto a temperature above the predetermined temperature at which thecarbonaceous material in the formation 1i) is broken down into itsgaseous and liquid components, it is to be understood that a suitableplant may be provided for producing heated combustion gas and that suchheated combustion gas may be forced downwardly into the well through theconduit 17 without in any way exceeding the scope of the invention. v

An oil storage tank 23 is provided on the surface near the head of thewell and the upper end of the conduit 19vis connected into this tank. Acondensing and gas washing device 24 having a water cooled condensercoil 25 therein is connected to the storage tank 23 through conduits 26and 27 for receiving any gas accumulating in the storage tank 23,condensing any condensible material in this gas and returning the liquidcondensate to the storage tank. The upper end of the conduit 1S isconnected to the condensing and washing apparatus 24 near the top ofthis apparatus for introducing gas from the well into the washer andcondenser. In addition to the condenser coil 25, the device 24 has atits upper end a suitable sprayhead 28 for directing a spray of waterdownwardly through the gas in the device to remove any water solublecontents from the gas, the water with the soluble contents of the gastherein being removed from the device 24 through the water outletconduit 29. A gas pipe 30 leads from the upper portion of the gaswashing and condensing device 24 to the burner 31 disposed in the waterpreheater 22 and to burners 32 and 33 disposed in the boiler 20 and thesuperheater 21 respectively, to generate and superheat the steam used asthe heating medium for the carbonaceous material in the oil bearingformation. Obviously, the steam generating equipment may be eliminated,if desired, and the combustion products of the gas forced directly tothe bottom portion of the well through the conduit 17.

In order to start the well, a connection 34 is provided on the pipe 30,so that an external source of gaseous fuel can be temporarily connectedto the burners 31, 32 and 33 to produce a sufficient quantity of heatedfluid to start the production of oil and gas from the well.

With the position of the bottom ends of the conduits 17, 18 and 19, itwill be noted that the heated iiuid is released into the well near thebottom of the oil bearing formation 10 and that the oil from theformation flows into the bottom end of the conduit 19 near the bottomend of the well, while the gas produced from the formation rises in thisportion of the well and ows into the bottom end of the conduit 1S abovethe bottom ends of the conduits 17 and 19, so that the gas and liquidcomponents of the carbonaceous material are substantially separated inthe well and are delivered to the storage and processing equipment atthe surface in separated condition. Y

The invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departingfrom the spirit or essential characteristics thereof. The presentembodiment is, therefore, to be considered in all respects asillustrative and not restrictive, the scope of the invention beingindicated by the appended claim rather than by the foregoingdescription, and all changes which come within the meaning and range ofequivalency of the claim are, therefore, intended to be embracedtherein.

What is claimed is:

Apparatus for producing oil from a stratum of oil shale in situcomprising; a well casing extending from top to bottom of said stratum;sealing plugs extending transversely of said casing at the top andbottom of the stratum, the casing being freely perforated throughout itscircumference for the full portion of its length extending between saidplugs; a pipe for supplying steam to the portion of the casing betweenthe plugs, a second pipe for leading off gaseous components of the rawshale product, and a third pipe for leading off liquid components ofsaid product, all of said pipes extending from the surface and openingwithin the casing, the irst at a loca tion near the bottom of thestratum above the lower plug, the second at the top of the stratum belowthe upper plug, and the third near the bottom of the stratum above thelower plug but at an elevation below the first pipe; means connectedwith the upper end of the second pipe for breaking down the gaseouscomponent owing through the same into liquid and gaseous parts; meansconnected with the third pipe for breaking down the liquid componentllowing therethrough into liquid and gaseous parts; means for supplyingsteam through the rst pipe for passage into the stratum through saidperforations for breaking down the product thereof into said liquid andgaseous components, for passage of the liquid and gaseous componentsinto the casing through said perforations; means for uniting the gaseousparts of the liquid and gaseous components; and means for uniting theliquid parts of said liquid and gaseous components.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS171,563 Hardison Dec. 28, 1875 193,838 West Aug. 7, 1877 1,422,204Hoover et al July 1l, 1922 1,433,956 Knox Oct. 31, 1922

